Helping you to get through the economic mine field in one piece.

A free weekly subscription service from Ron Paul's original staff economist.Matthew 6:32-33

Home / Internet / Nothing Like A Website That Cost $90 Million And Was Still Abandoned

Nothing Like A Website That Cost $90 Million And Was Still Abandoned

Posted on April 19, 2014

Maryland has given up on its Obamacare website, but not before spending $90 million of taxpayer funding on technology, according to a cost breakdown released Friday.

Of the $90 million, exchange board Chairman Joshua Sharfstein said that the marketplace spent $55 million on the website itself, The Washington Post reports. Officials opted in late March, after six months of struggling with the inoperable system, to give up on fixing the website and start over again with a model of Connecticut’s more successful exchange website.

Maryland’s Obamacare exchange received millions in federal taxpayer dollars to build its Affordable Care Act website and was even awarded early innovator grants that earned it even more taxpayer funding. But the website crashed on the first day of open enrollment and officials have been unable to fix it.

The late decision won’t help anyone who hoped to sign up for health insurance on the exchange for 2014. The open enrollment period in Maryland closes Friday, with a special exception for more than 18,000 people who have already requested extra time to sign up due to the website’s problems. Sharfstein said Tuesday that the exchange will serve these customers, whether or not they get to it before the extended deadline.

Sharfstein released the exchange’s budget details Friday. Officials spent $129.8 million by March 26 to create and host the exchange as a whole, not just the website, which financial officials reported Tuesday. But the newly released breakdown reveals that technology — including the website that’s already been tossed aside — cost a whopping $91.7 million, mostly paid to Noridian Healthcare Solutions.

Maryland spent $49.9 million on the development of the exchange; $11 million for hosting the website; $3 million for maintenance; and $8.1 million on a small business exchange, which has not yet been launched.

Posting Policy:We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse. Read more.

17 thoughts on “Nothing Like A Website That Cost $90 Million And Was Still Abandoned”

I think that whatever company is selected to do the website, the NSA should do a code review and check for security leaks. At least that would be within their stated goals as an organization. It is about national security and protecting the taxpayers.

If I'm smart enough to think of this, why didn't the smart guys in Obama's administration think of it? (There are a couple of answers that spring to mind!)

Federal regulations require the activity that needs goods or services to prepare a "Request for Proposals." The contracting officer are required to review the request for sufficiency—meaning if he understands the request several companies in the business will probably bid to do the work. If no bids are received a sole source may be solicited. Before a contract for the work may be awarded a work statement must be reviewed by the party that will manage the contract, the purchasing officer, the finding source and the individual representing the company that will do the work. All must agree there is mutual understanding of the work to be accomplished under the terms of the contract. The managing activity must include progress reports and reviews to be accomplished along the path of the work. I served as the director for logistics for Test Command, Defense Nuclear Agency for years and I assure you many of our contracts were extremely complicated and there was never a case similar to the falderal we are witnessing from this Administration. I realize the Clinton Administration made a number of changes to the Federal Purchasing Act but nothing that would have precipitated the fiasco we are experiencing. Surely the Attorney Generals Staff reviewed these contracts for legal sufficiency and should be able to determine a cause for the problem—-or maybe we have one more case where the attorneys this administration is hiring don't know the requirement or how to review the document they approve. The blind leading the blind.

90 million spent, not one person saw a doctor, or got care. Government does what it does best, pisses away you money. You have to remember how they think. I don't care what it cost. I'm not paying for it!!

NH…me too. As far as the website development does…to err is human….but to REALLY screw things up it takes 'The Government'. The severity of the screw-up is in direct proportion to the numbers of humans who worked on the thing. Putting it another way, a Committee is a Form of Life With Siz or more heads…and NO BRAIN!!

Would be interesting to see a list of the companies that Maryland contracted the "work" on this fiasco out to. Everybody who knew someone in IT probably called them up and said, "This train wreck can't be fixed, but might as well grab some of the cash DC is throwing at it."

Multiply this by 50 states and the results are beyond disgusting. Oregon wasted $100 million, the losses from the other states are being kept under cover. How much healthcare could people get from this money if it was not wasted, or better yet, how much would it lessen the national debt? Obama and his corrupt administration are determined to ruin this country, run it down to third world status while enriching their friends/donors and bundlers….

I really don't have anything nice to say. I have to agree with many of the others here, that many people and businesses nationwide milked our government out of this money, knowing it poorly designed and probably couldn't be fixed……
This leadership deserved it, because they were to stubborn to ask for real assistance and were not willing to wait and work through the bugs in the computer system and the health care scam that is being perpetrated.

PS. Why does it always cost the government more to fix problems than the marketplace, especially when most people are on salary?

The taxpayers of the State of maryland should file suit against the democrat party, bith State and national and specifically name those State politicians that voted in favor of this nocturnal emmission and revoer the monies wasted on their failures.

There is no hope in the state of Maryland where the liberal sheeple vote for Democrats 3 to 1. There is no hope because the state is controlled by Gov. Stalin O'Malley, Mikulski, Cardin,Cummings, Hoyer, Sarbanes et al. The districts have been gerry mandered to eliminate the last and only Republican in the House . And don't forget, we are the birthplace of Pelosi. I've had enough. Moving to AZ in the spring of 2015—-can't come soon enough!

I laughed when it crashed. I cried at the waste of money, especially when it went to under the table deals to people with questionable moral values. What struck me the most sadly funny what the idea of taking these products, say 10 plans per state and somewhere between 50 and 57 states (50 for us, 57 for BHO) and listing them on amazon.com. Amazon takes care of the ordering, security, cash flow, etc for a whole lot less than we have already pissed away.

American citizens could have been spared all this financial waste…The President has a pen and a phone…All that was needed was for the President to sign an executive order instructing Insurance companies they can no longer exclude persons with pre-existing conditions…As for the uninsured…No hospital has ever turned down those who were known to be without insurance from receiving health care treatment…Under ObamaCare these same persons still will not be able to pay for their insurance therefore they will get the same free medical treatment as before…When all Obama had to do was use his pen and phone thus solving the problem…The folley of the Democrats is going to cost US taxpayers 3 trillion dollars plus before all is said and done…With no end financially in sight thereafter…We have been suckered by the CommieCRats who have infested our government like termites chewing away at a rotten log!